Which to use
“level” is an adjective and “lives” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #377
- “level” frequency rank
- #748
- “lives” frequency rank
- 1125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | level | lives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground. | third-person singular simple present indicative of live |
Where the eye mixes level and lives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: level is /ˈlɛv.l̩/ while lives is /lɪvz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
level is recorded at frequency rank #377, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛv.l̩/. lives is at rank #748, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɪvz/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 1125, this pair ranks #528,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of level vs lives
Shared letters: elv. Private to "level": -. Private to "lives": is.
"level" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC